Believe me, I am intimately familiar with procrastination. Case in point: how close this column is written to its delivery time. (Of course, it’s because I want my information to be as current as possible. Really.) But there’s that moment in every procrastinator's life when the deadline is now this close and the window to “put off until tomorrow” is about to slam shut. And for entering or nominating for the 2011 Showroom of the Year Awards, that time is now, my friends.

For the second year, we will present Showroom of the Year honors in partnership with the Dallas Market Center at the June Dallas Market. The awards recognize top showrooms in three dollar-volume categories, plus specialty awards for merchandising display, community involvement and significant achievement. Any independent lighting retailer may enter or be nominated, and those entries/nominations are judged by an esteemed panel with expertise in lighting, retail business and presentation to determine finalists and winners. (We’ll announce this year’s judges in our March issue — stay tuned.)

If you are a retailer and you haven’t yet entered your store, I encourage you to do so by clicking here before the final deadline on Monday, Feb. 28. If you are a sales representative or a vendor, this is a great opportunity to acknowledge a customer/partner/friend doing exceptional things to ensure their success (and therefore your own). Anyone allied to the lighting industry may nominate by clicking here, but the same Feb. 28 deadline applies.

Objects in calendar are closer than they appear. And this is not one that you want to see fly by in the rear-view mirror.